Education in Prisons: Politics or Progress

Conference Proceedings - Australasian Correctional Education Association, 2001

In this paper the author will explore the role of the NSW Teachers Federation and the Corrective Services Teachers Association as both a professional and industrial organisation in supporting the provision of public education within the NSW Correctional system through encouraging teacher activism: which supports strong foundations for learning and development: engagement with theoretical issues; campaigning with a long term historical overview.

2005

I would like to thank Professor Wilfred Carr, my supervisor, for the excellent advice he provided during the course of this thesis. It was on his suggestion that I embarked on my Ed. D. at Sheffield University. I am glad I did since I thoroughly enjoyed both parts of the course. I am also grateful for his patience since I was always later than promised in the delivery of my work. I appreciate his friendship which precedes this study by a few years. It made our meetings and our working relationship more pleasant. I would also like to thank the tutors involved in the Ed. D. course for the opportunity they gave me to benefit from their expertise and their willingness to assist whenever it was necessary. During the course of my studies at Sheffield I was impressed by the friendliness and assistance of Ms. Sharon Lambert, Ms. Sheila Melbourne and Ms. Chris Gaffney. Thanks are due also to my friend and colleague, Joseph Giordmaina of the University of Malta for his comments and for being a patient listener. My wife, Mary, and my children Sarah and Daniel have constantly been a source of encouragement. They had to compete with my studies for attention and do without my assistance during my visits to Sheffield. Lastly, a big thank you to my sister in law, Patsy and her husband Bob, who put me up and put up with me every time I came to the United Kingdom. They have always been wonderful family and hosts.

1998

2004

2017

In all fields of education, theory is in advance of practice (MacCormick, 1931, p. xii). This essay provides a summary of the historical research themes of the Center for the Study of Correctional Education (CSCE) in the field of prison reform and its leading edge, correctional education. Those themes have been applied at CSCE’s system of parolee schools, the California State University, San Bernardino Reentry Initiative (CSRI). The essay addresses the professional contributions of four contributors or heroes of the correctional education: Alexander Maconochie at a penal colony in the South Pacific, William George among juveniles in New York State (NYS), Thomas Mott Osborne at two NYS prisons and one in the U.S. Navy, Stephen Duguid in British Columbia. The current author subjectively selected these four contributors. Then he arbitrarily selected six findings from the work of each. The four are informally known at the CSCE as part of the “pantheon” of correctional education contribu...

Vocational education and training for adult prisoners and offenders in Australia: Research readings, 2007

This chapter explores current debates about models for educational delivery in correctional centres, with a view to examining proposals for making it compulsory for prisoners to participate in education. In particular, it compares the 'criminogenic needs' model of prisoner education with the 'opportunities' model of adult education traditionally used in prisons as a way to study how the implementation of the 'criminogenic needs' model has affected curriculum and funding programs. Further, the chapter investigates the impact which the 'criminogenic needs' (or 'prison works') model has had upon sentence management and legislation, particularly in New South Wales, in relation to the coercion of inmate participation in rehabilitation programs. The real question is whether it should be compulsory for the correctional system to guarantee provision of education and vocational training and inmates' rights to access it?

EDUCATION AND PRISON: A MISMATCH BETWEEN PUBLIC POLICIES AND REALITY (Atena Editora), 2023

This article aims to describe how education in prisons has been worked on. Assuming that it is everyone's right, we surveyed the proposed policies for prisoner education, in order to elucidate how teaching is applied in penitentiaries. The aforementioned authors helped us to think about the education offered in prisons, providing a contribution to the development and appreciation of prisoners. Therefore, a survey of information was carried out through a bibliographical review and analysis of documents from the responsible bodies, enabling the understanding of how the provision of education in the penitentiary system occurs.

This essay argues that prisoners, being a minority group and displaced are entitled to receive education through a well-designed alternative learning system specifically through prison education which has to be both the responsibility of prison managers, the Department of Education in collaboration with private entities. This work tries to uncover the problems besetting the prison education system that make it difficult if not impossible to attain the ends to which the program was culled. The work would not be complete without suggesting enhancements in the prison education system by critically analyzing trends in prison education system.

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology